1. The Political Economy of Cities II
BENV 7721
Paul Collits

2. Sources
Australian Government, Our Cities Our Future: A National Policy for a Productive, Sustainable and Liveable Future (Department of Infrastructure and Transport 2011)
Cheshire, Nathan, Overman
Urban Economics and Urban Policy: Challenging Conventional Policy Wisdom (Edward Elgar 2014)
Spatial Economics Research Centre, London School of Economics

3. Sources
Robert Bruegmann, Sprawl: A Compact History, University of Chicago Press (2005)
Patrick Troy, The Perils of Urban Consolidation, Federation Press (1996)
Peter Calthorpe, William Fulton, The Regional City: Planning for the End of Sprawl, Island Press (2001)

4. Ed Glaeser
“… it is somewhat remarkable that our cities have been so successful despite the many shortcomings of urban politics and government” (2014)

5. Cheshire et al
Cities support specialisation, social interaction and exchange of ideas (Marshall)
Infrastructure, buildings and urban form are not ends in themselves
Land use planning has “generated substantial economic and social costs for large groups of people”
Lack of robust evaluations of urban policy

6. Cheshire et al (Cont.)
Policies should be judged for their impact on people, not places
Area effects v composition effects
Policies must be realistic in the face of strong market forces (which cause unevenness)
Economics has been too little used in urban policy
Cities – land, labour and housing markets all interact
Many urban policies do little or generate unintended and counterproductive consequences
Policy makers must be clear as to the causes of disparities

7. Area Effects v Composition Effects
Area effects – the extent to which some cities offer better outcomes for similar types of people
Composition effects – the extent to which the characteristics of people differ across cities
Area effects are persistent and not susceptible to effective policy interventions

8. The Policy Buzz Words
The three imperatives of contemporary urban policy –
Productivity
Sustainability
Liveability
“Balance” or trade offs???
Affordability???

9. Drivers of Policy
Ideology – world view, paradigm, way of seeing things, core beliefs, philosophy
Neo liberalism (economic rationalism), conservatism, socialism, environmentalism
Economic and social conditions
History (and geography in the case of spatial policy)
Problems being confronted
Policy ideas
Interest groups
The disposition of the public to the issue and its solutions
Administrative process

10. The Policy Process
The role of government – address market failures, regulate, provide services, address inequality
The bureaucracy
The policy cycle – problem definition; agenda setting; policy development; implementation; evaluation (see Bridgeman and Davis)

11. Models of the Policy Process
Rational actor model
Incrementalism
Satisficing
Log rolling (trading of favours)
Public choice theory
Agenda setting
Wicked problems (Rittel and Webber 1973)
Anthony Downs – the issue attention cycle

12. Downs and the Five Stages of the IAC
Downs described 5 stages of the issue-attention cycle
1. The pre-problem stage. Here the problem exists, but commands little public attention.
2. Alarmed discovery and euphoric enthusiasm. The public suddenly becomes aware of the problem and demands emphatically that it be solved.
3. Realizing cost of significant progress. The realization sets in that solving the problem would be very costly and require sacrifice from large parts of the population.
4. Gradual decline of intense public interest. Interest wanes in the problem. Other problems find their way to the "alarmed discovery" stage and the old one is displaced.
5. The post-problem stage. The issue moves into a "twilight realm of lesser attention or spasmodic recurrences of interest." Institutions or policies created in the "discovery" stage may persist however, and continue to work toward the solution to the problem.

13. Policy in Australia Three levels of government
Vertical fiscal imbalance
Growing influence of Commonwealth
Weakness of local government
No democratic recognition of region scale
Resistance by local government and communities to amalgamation
City centrism

14. Spatial and Non Spatial Policies
“People” v “place” policy
Most policy is “spatially blind”, ie has no spatial intent
Policies affect regions positively and negatively
Examples? Education policy
Spatial policy – makes “place” front and centre
Critiques of spatial policy – effectiveness, cost, unintended consequences

15. Urban Policy Urban policy is place policy
Negotiated split between State and local government
Traditional land use planning essentially regulatory – zoning, development control
1970s – EPA Act; new reach, environmental imperative
1970s-80s - managing population growth; sprawl; urban consolidation; urban containment
1980s – “sustainability”; triple bottom line
1990s -2000s – “liveability” and place making / urban design / revitalisation (regeneration)
2000s – local economic development

16. Key Policy Challenges of Australian Cities
Economic decline, under-performance
Managing future growth
Congestion
Pollution
Uneven outcomes / Inequality / concentration of poverty
Poor public transport
Transport planning, land use planning, housing, and economy mismatches
Affordability / home ownership
Sprawl (???)
Governance and coordination
Others?

17. “Joined up” Governance
New Labour in Britain
Addresses fragmentation
Alignment
Coordination
Integration
Process re-engineering
The five levels of collaboration – mutual awareness; learning exchange; sharing resources; co-execution; innovating together (Purdue)

18. Urban Interest Groups The property industry Environmentalists
Community defenders
Industry sectors, eg transport/logistics, manufacturing
Local government
Experts/practitioners

19. Discussion questions? Essay questions Other
Next week – land use planning and economic development practice; case studies